Promise
by haru.fan
Summary: When the world thinks she's crazy Chihiro runs away and finds her past... but is she really crazy? ChihiroxHaku


(I wrote this a little while ago and was going to enter it into a fanfiction contest BUT... it was cancelled so I decided it should not go to waste. Spirited Away was the first anime I watched and recognized it as an anime so it's very special to me. Maybe one day I will cosplay it or something... but until then I am doomed to writing Chihiro and Haku together... :) I'm really nervous about posting this one... but hopefully it'll pay off to have and I can write an even better story for the next competition. Hope you enjoy my little oneshot.)

"Do you have dreams of worlds similar to the one you visioned?" Chihiro rolled her eyes, sighing. These doctors all thought she was crazy, next time she would just keep her mouth shut.

"No." She said in exasperation.

"So you were lying to your parents?" He questioned, almost carelessly.

"No!" Chihiro shouted before she realized just telling everyone she had lied about the whole thing would have been a lot easier. She clamped her mouth shut tightly shut, looking down at her hands, red from the strain of holding them in fists. "I'm sorry for wasting your time... maybe it was a dream or something."

Lying had never been easy for Chihiro. All her words tumbled together, making it obvious she was fibbing.

"Alright, I think we're done for the day." The Doctor added harshly.

"Okay." Chihiro got up from her chair, bowing before walking out.

"So, what's the verdict for this girl?" the Doctor's subordinate asked.

"She could be schizophrenic, that seems most likely."

"We should tell her parents..."

"Yes."

-Spirited Away-

"Yes.... mhm... I understand." Chihiro's mother glanced toward her daughter who was burrowed into the couch. Chihiro peeked up from her blanket.

Her mother hung up the phone, sighing. Tears burned her eyes as she looked at her daughter.

She sat on the couch beside Chihiro, taking her hand.

"Chihiro?"

"Oh gosh!" Chihiro sighed in exasperation. "I'm not sick, I'm not crazy! Mom, please." She cried.

Her mother smiled at her, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Honey, they want to run some tests, they're moving you to a hospital tomorrow."

"You cannot be serious!" Chihiro asked.

"It's for your own good." Her mother replied gently.

"I'm not crazy!" Chihiro begged. She couldn't take this anymore, she ran to her room, slamming the door, falling on her bed, tears streaming down her face.

Why had she brought it up? Why had she made it so obvious? She had skipped school one day to go to the old abandoned theme park. When no one could find her they had called the police.

An hour later they found her, sitting on the steps of the bath house, waiting. She just waited, they had to drag her away, screaming at the top of her lungs.

All the same, there she was, in her bed crying herself to sleep because everyone thought she was crazy. The tears stained her cheeks and her eyes were blood shot. She took a shaky breath and swallowed.

She couldn't sleep at all the past few months. The flashes of the spirit world she had tried to get back to so desperately, the world that she longed to feel, to be a part of again. She could feel his hand holding hers for the last time, his voice commanding her not to look back.

The thought suddenly struck her. Her backpack loomed by her door.

She ran to it and stuffed her clothes into the backpack. Her hand traced the card her friend had given her, had it really been six years ago? She shook her head and gently placed it in the front pocket.

Her hand traced the smooth wood of the window before she thrust it open and looked at the looming ground that seemed to mock her.

She sighed as she perched herself on the side.

One. Two. Three. She jumped.

It hurt to hit the ground and she had to lay there for a moment to let the pain ease before moving would even be a consideration.

She wondered why her mother hadn't run out to see what the sound had been. She was yelling at her father. The argument seemed heated and unforgiving. No one would miss her tonight.

The night was chilled and nipped at her cheeks and bare arms mercilessly. She didn't care, she only wanted out. But where could she go?

She thrust the backpack on securely and her legs pumped as she ran away, as far as she could get.

Her breathes became shorter and her lungs started to ache and beg her to slow. She stopped to rest under an old sakura tree. The blossoms were falling like rain from it and blew into her hair. She didn't bother to pick them out.

For once her hair fell on her shoulders, the wind playing with strands as they tickled her face.

The night was silent and cold. It all seemed more accepting than everything in her life. No warmth was left, only the lingering memory of his face, the site of his calm eyes, the feel of his warm touch of his hand brush hers for the last time, the reassuring sound of his voice, of his promise that they'd see each other again.

"HAKU!" Chihiro screamed, suddenly overtaken with anger that those memories had stung her so deeply, that the realization that he wouldn't see her again set in. "YOU'RE A LIAR!"

"I beg to differ." The voice was as quiet as the wind. Chihiro froze. This couldn't be possible. No...

"What are you doing here alone?" His voice, the voice she had felt she would never hear again, the voice that had haunted her thoughts and dreams, the voice that had soothed her fears and eased her mind. _His_ voice.

"Chihiro." He said slowly, sitting beside her. He hadn't seemed to age at all. He still looked the same, time had not touched him.

"Haku..." She cleared her throat. "Kohaku?" He smiled, his hand lightly brushing her hair away.

"You can't be here..."

"Chihiro, I'm right here right now, see." He held out his hand like he had done when they had first met, she had been invisible and disappearing.

Timidly Chihiro swept her hand across his, and the warmth of his skin sent chills down her spine.

"I'm all here." He whispered to her.

"You.... I never thought I'd see you again." Haku laughed, smiling at her.

"You've grown up and stopped believing in fairy tales, Chihiro?"

She couldn't meet his eyes, if she faced him he'd disappear and she wanted him here, beside her, where she could feel his warmth radiating toward her. No, she would not shatter this dream.

"If they want to put me in an asylum...?" She almost growled. Haku's face turned into frustration.

"An asylum?" He verified.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell anyone but..."

He glanced at her but her eyes were glued to the grass underneath her. She tried to fight the stinging tears that burned her eyes.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his shoulder. Her sobs were more difficult to stop.

"You can cry." He whispered. "It's okay."

With no more invitation than that, she felt the tears trickle down her cheeks.

"It'll be okay." He promised.

"I missed you."

"It's been a long time but I kept my promise." he said to her.

She looked at his hand, tightly tucked into her arm. His perfectly straight cropped hair framed his face. His eyes were still bright, beautiful.

He wiped away the tears on her cheek. Her eyes met his, he didn't disappear, he was still there. The free beauty of the dragon reflected in those eyes.

Chihiro couldn't bear to look away, she had missed him so much, too much but here he was, holding her, whispering comforts to her. Something she never believed she would experience again.

She knew for sure she wasn't crazy, she had convinced herself everything that happened when she was ten had been a dream but this was proof. She was sane and she loved him.

"You saved me Chihiro, I owe you so much more than this." Haku said.

Chihiro laughed, whipping the rest of her tears away.

"I never thought a river spirit would owe me anything."

"I'm saying it as your friend."

"Is that what this is?" Chihiro asked.

Haku looked at her, confusion set in those free-spirited eyes.

"I mean..." She blushed slightly. "Well, I do love you Haku, but I don't know what kind of love, is this friendship?"

"Chihiro..." Haku sighed, smiling at her kindly.

"I love you." Chihiro blurted, "that's why I was so willing to fight everyone who called me a liar, because if they were right, it would mean you wouldn't exist, and you have to exist Haku. You have to." Her voice changed to a hush whisper.

"Chihiro..." Haku breathed her name seconds before he was kissing her. She sighed, smitten right where she was. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed but Haku.

Her hands wrapped in his silky hair, he held her close.

And everything shattered around her, and her eyes fluttered open and she was under the sakura tree... alone.

(I am a sad and depressing person but the story wanted to go this way so... it did... :) Thanks for reading

Love

Haru)


End file.
